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How We Planned a Trip to Disneyland Paris… in Just One Day!

Many people start planning a trip to Disneyland Paris six months in advance. We normally do too. But this time, everything was different.

7/20/20264 min read

A Trip That Almost Didn't Happen

We normally love planning our Disneyland Paris trips well in advance. Comparing hotels, hunting for the best rates, booking dining reservations... we are the type of people who enjoy the planning phase almost as much as the trip itself.

But this time, life had other plans.

Days turned into weeks, and before we knew it, it was July. Prices had skyrocketed, and every passing day shrank our chances of finding a good hotel combo.

It looked like we’d have to cancel our summer trip.

Until July 3rd, when we got the news that changed everything: we finally had the green light to go.

Suddenly, we went from not traveling at all... to having to plan absolutely everything in under 24 hours.

Getting Everything Ready in a Single Day

The second we knew we could go, we hit the ground running.

First up: buying our Annual Passes. Since we plan on visiting Disneyland Paris at different times of the year to keep creating content for Nubo Journeys, this was the smartest route for us.

Next came the most tedious part of the process.

We opened a massive spreadsheet tracking the daily rates for every Disney Hotel between July 4th and July 20th. We wanted to cross-reference every possible combination to find the most budget-friendly route.

Our goal wasn't just to sleep near the parks.

We wanted to experience as many hotels as possible—some because we’d never stayed there, and others because they had been refurbished since our last visit.

After endless calculations, swaps, and comparisons, we locked in the perfect itinerary.

The Next Mission: Booking Dining Reservations

With the hotels booked, it was time to tackle the food.

We knew we wanted to use this trip to try some hotel dinner spots we hadn't experienced yet.

At the top of our list were Downtown Restaurant and Manhattan Restaurant—two places we had heard incredible things about.

Since it was just the two of us, securing reservations was way easier than expected, and we managed to book a table at every single restaurant on our wishlist.

To Meal Plan or Not to Meal Plan? ⭐

Then came the million-dollar question every Disneyland Paris traveler asks: is a Disney Dining Plan actually worth it?

We sat down and ran the numbers.

Since our Annual Pass gave us discounts at several restaurants, we wanted to weigh all our options before pulling the trigger.

Ultimately, we found a customized combo that perfectly matched our itinerary:

• One night with Half Board.
• One night with Full Board.
• The rest of the days with no dining plan.

Funnily enough, every booking was done differently. We added the Full Board by calling Disney directly, while the Half Board was bundled with one of our hotel nights via Expedia.

There’s no single "right" way to plan a trip. Sometimes, mixing and matching options is exactly how you build the perfect vacation.

The Luggage Strategy

With tickets, hotels, and dining sorted, all that was left was packing.

And this is where we came up with a system that worked better than we ever could have imagined.

Since we were hotel hopping every single night, we decided to pack a mini "clothing kit" for each day. Instead of tossing everything into the suitcase, we rolled up each day's complete outfit individually.

Our main suitcase stayed in the trunk of the car for the entire trip.

Every morning, before switching hotels, we just popped the trunk, tossed in our worn clothes, and grabbed the fresh clothing roll for the day.

We carried a single backpack with our daily outfit and toiletries, and a separate bag for our swimsuits and flip-flops so we could hit the hotel pools right away.

It sounds like a tiny hack, but it saved us so much time and completely eliminated the hassle of packing and unpacking a suitcase every single night.

A Ten-Hour Drive... That Was Totally Worth It

Our road trip began.

We had a ten-hour drive ahead of us to reach Disneyland Paris, but it made the most sense for our trip. Beyond giving us total freedom to bounce between hotels, it meant we could pack whatever we needed without stressing over airline baggage limits.

Once we arrived, everything went exactly as planned.

We got to explore every hotel on our list, dined at the restaurants we’d been eyeing from day one, and took our time discovering every magical corner.

The One Thing We'd Change

If we could change one single thing about this trip, it would be our room location at Hotel Cheyenne.

We were assigned a room in one of the furthest buildings, which meant a pretty long walk every day just to reach the reception or head to the parks. After a 12-hour day walking around Disneyland Paris, that extra trek definitely took its toll.

Next time, we’ll absolutely request a room near the main building or in one of the blocks closer to the park walking trail. It’s a small detail that can make your stay significantly more comfortable.

An Unexpected Discovery: Hotel Discovery Quests

One of our absolute favorite parts of the trip was doing the hotel Discovery Quests.

It turned out to be an incredible way to uncover details, lore, and hidden corners we likely would have walked right past otherwise.

Our favorite, hands down, was the one at Hotel Santa Fe.

If you’ve never done them, we highly recommend giving them a try!

What This Trip Taught Us

If this adventure proved anything, it’s that you don’t always need months of planning to pull off an amazing vacation.

For a few days, we thought all hope was lost.
That it was too late.
That prices would be impossible.
That we wouldn't find any hotel availability.
That booking restaurants would be a lost cause.

And in the end, the exact opposite happened.

Everything turned out better than we expected.

We had a blast, discovered new places, tried experiences we’d been dreaming about for years, and came back with a ton of fresh ideas to share on Nubo Journeys.

Yes, we would have loved the time to buy a small video camera before leaving. But once again, we winged it and ended up filming everything on our phones.

Ultimately, we realized that having the perfect gear or the perfect plan doesn't matter.

What matters is not letting the opportunity slip away.

Because sometimes, the greatest trips are the ones that begin right when you think you've run out of time.